Middle East/North Africa | IPS Journal

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picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Morteza Akhoondi

Economy and ecology

War at the world’s oil chokepoint

What is happening in Iran poses a deeper question for energy security: how much should the global economy depend on a single maritime chokepoint?

By Laury Haytayan

picture alliance / Xinhua News Agency | Ali Hashisho

Foreign and security policy

A spark in Tehran, tremors everywhere

The war against Iran brings the Middle East on the brink of disaster. How are people coping? We report from the region

By Ralf Melzer, Merin Abbass, Friederike Stolleis, Almut Wieland-Karimi, Astrid Becker

picture alliance / AP | Mohsen Ganji

Foreign and security policy

Where order once held

The strike on Iran has shattered the fragile balance in the Middle East. Europe will feel the impact from afar

By Muamer Bećirović

pa/ap | Brian M. Wilbur

Foreign and security policy

Minutes to midnight

Everything is heading towards an escalation between the US and Iran. But war would be extremely dangerous for the region — and completely avoidable

By Marcus Schneider

picture alliance / NurPhoto | Morteza Nikoubazl

Foreign and security policy

Nuclear dead-end

Amid mounting military threats and failed diplomacy, Iran’s nuclear obsession threatens both citizens and state stability

By Kourosh Ziabari

picture alliance / Anadolu | Mohamad Daboul

Democracy and society

Syria’s unfinished peace

The latest settlement promises order after chaos. But stability will be fragile unless governance is inclusive and part of a genuine transition

By Hozan Ibrahim

Foreign and security policy

Go East

The US is not trying to eliminate the Iranian state. It wants a cooperative regime, stripped of its regional teeth and its strategic value to China

By Eldaniz Gusseinov

picture alliance / TASS | Alexander Kazakov

Foreign and security policy

Why Iran’s crisis is Russia’s problem

For Russia, what happens in Iran is no longer a peripheral concern. It is directly tied to Europe’s power balance and the course of the war in Ukraine

By Arash Beidollahkhani

picture alliance / SIPA | Moiz Salhi apaimages

Democracy and society

After the ceasefire

Gaza’s suffering now unfolds without international attention. With the arrival of winter the situation on the ground has become more difficult

By Hassan Herzallah

pa / SIPA | MAHSA/MEI

Democracy and society

The only certainty is change

As unrest sweeps the country, Iran balances on a knife’s edge, with change looming yet its form and cost unknown

By Marcus Schneider